New York’s first theatre district began here on the stage of Niblo’s Gardens with the production of America’s first musical. Opening on September 12th, 1866, “The Black Crook” featured 100 beautiful girls in tights and spectacular stage props. It ran for 475 performances, turned a million dollar profit on an initial investment of $5,000. American showbiz was on its way.

Across the street in 1866, you could have found P. T. Barnum and General Tom Thumb (right), along with Jumbo the Elephant, the Fiji-Mermaid, and Chang and Eng from Siam, who gave birth to the term Siamese Twins.

Just down Broadway was the store of the jeweler Charles Tiffany. The city's swankiest row of bordellos ran right behind it on Mercer St. This tour will show you where John Gotti was busted; where Frank Lucciano sold liquor during Prohibition; how Commission was set up organize crime in America; the home of Puck Magazine; the site of the murder of Bill the Butcher (Daniel Day Lewis in Gangs of New York); and the history of Cast-Iron Architecture.